I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

The Best Peep Show in Town

On friday I met Mrs. Hillbilly and her son little HB down at Wilco to pick out chicks. The deal is, Lucy and I will raise the girls through the baby chick phase {her least favorite part} and then I’ll hand them over to them to raise in their backyard.

Our neighborhood doesn’t allow chickens {outside presumably} so I can’t have a flock of my own while we are here {yet another reason to move asap husband if you are reading this}.

To say Lucy loves baby chicks… would be the biggest understatement of the year. When we had baby chicks at our last house she was checking in on them non stop. I knew this time around would be no different.

And I was right. About once an hour she walks into the laundry room {where the chicks are right now} and puts her paws on the washing machine so I will lift her up so she can check on them. It’s the cutest thing ever and I’m pretty sure she’d let them snuggle up to her if the chicks were allowed on the couch.

This is our Light Brahmaand she should lay brown eggs when she’s older. The last time I selected a light brahma from Wilco it turned out to be a rooster and we named him Pablo.

Little HB named his Sicilian Buttercup …. are you ready for it? Buttercup. She is a rare breed from Sicily that lays small white eggs and has some serious glamour eyes going on.

This is Chip. She is a Welsummerhen andhas the markings of a chipmunk. She layslarge dark brown eggs and if we’re lucky, they might even be speckled. {Fingers crossed!}

And then there is theSilver Cochin. AlthoughI’m thinking the chick was labeled wrong and it might actually be a White Cochin. We’ve had a white cochin before {white fatty} and she was the sweetest bird on the planet and loved to be held all the time.

Little HB thinks she might be a he because it’s the biggest chick in the bunch. So I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Comments

Awww! The babies are soooo cute! The kids and I will visit the baby chicks at Tractor Supply Co later this afternoon, but no buying. We plan to get some older pullets later this spring….ones closer to egg-baring age. And hopefully we’ll have a broody hen sometime this spring or summer. Oh, how we ADORE the babies wandering with their proud mama!!

No chicks, so far. I let my ladies hatch the chicks around here and it is too cold for them to even consider brooding eggs. BUT I have 4 Khaki Campbell ducklings in the enclosed back porch. I love ducklings and Khaki’s lay up to 300 eggs a year (far better than most of my chickens). I find it far easier to let the chickens do all the work, including flock integration….but I would love to add a few weird breeds to my flock…just for giggles.

I think you are right about the Silver Cochin. I’m thinking it will be white as well. I have Blue/Splash Cochins and they are gray as chicks. I would think Silver would be a very light gray as a chick. I have been raising Chickens for 10 years and my favorites are Cochins, the Hens are great mothers and go broody easily, the Roosters are also very gentle (I’ve had my share of mean Roosters from other Breeds) Anyhow, we have ordered 20 Jumbo/Game Hen X for meat birds and also go a few more egg layers of Cochins and Red Star/Sex-Links. The Red Stars are great layers of brown eggs. I have measured some of their eggs at 6 1/4inches around. I had a niece hatch White Leg Horns with my incubator for a science project for her kids and I have been pleasantly surprised with how great they lay too, and they don’t eat as much feed. I did have a few Khaki Campbell ducks a few years ago and I fell in love, they are so cute….but hubby wouldn’t let me keep them.

When I was young…60 years or so ago, we raised chickens and rabbits, and I can fully remember the time that a weasel got into the chicken coop and decimated the chicks. That was the only time I ever remember my Grandfather just sitting down and crying.

No chicks. We live in the city and aren’t zoned for it BUT we have 16 rabbits! All in the house. They are tiny Netherland Dwarf rabbits and only get about 2 ponds. My son raises them and shows them for 5-H. We have 5 babies right now that are the cutest things! Lucy might like them too!!

That was a great post to read first thing over breakfast! Such an awwww factor! 🙂
Those chicks are so sweet and I love the way Lucy is Mother Henning them!
We haven’t raised chicks. We’ve always bought the chickens at point of lay. Maybe one day…. 🙂

I love chicks, but no plans for anymore this spring. Our ladies already lay more eggs then we can possibly eat. My daughter would love to get some furry footed chickens. Maybe this fall we’ll add a few more. We usually get chicks in the fall and let a broody hen raise them. It’s amazing how happy it makes them when you replace their eggs with little fluff balls!

We just picked up 16 eggs yesterday and popped them in the incubator, starting the 2016 Clan Gardner hatch_off. We each pick our eggs and label them, then we have prizes for the first to hatch and the highest hatch rate. The are supposed to be Olive-Eggers with a few Easter-Eggers to round out the batch but we’re not too sure. The gal wasn’t much in the mood to chat, she just handed us the carton and shut her door. I thought all “chicken people” loved to talk about their chickens – Oh Well.

No new chicks for us this spring. We’ve got a flock of 1 year olds right now.
But oh, Welsumers! I don’t know if you’ve had that breed before but they are such nice birds. We’ve had several and I think all of them have added speckles to their dark brown eggs. And they’re gentle, calm hens as well. What an interesting mix of breeds. I always like having a mixed flock. Makes it so visually interesting. Enjoy the chick stage. They grow so fast! 🙂

No chicks this spring – we got 9 late September and they started laying about 4 weeks ago. Maybe next spring… I’m dying to get a few blue hens – blue Orpington or something and some Marans for the dark eggs!!!

What are you using for the chicks bedding material? I’m always looking for more ideas…